Ed Block

Brett Favre, the NFL Most Valuable Player the past two seasons, will be among the players honored at the 19th annual Ed Block Courage Awards on March 18 at Martin's West.Favre, quarterback of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, is one of 30 recipients of the Block Awards, which are given to a member of each NFL team. Winners are chosen by their teammates for demonstrating qualities of courage originally set down by the late Ed Block, a longtime trainer for the Baltimore Colts.Other featured guests this year include two Hall of Famers: former Colts tight end John Mackey and former Cleveland Browns-Washington Redskins running back/wide receiver Bobby Mitchell.

Art Modell was welcomed to Baltimore last night.After being besieged by autograph seekers who thanked him for bringing the NFL back to Baltimore, Modell got a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 2,000 at the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation Dinner last night.Modell, who was criticized the past four months from coast to coast for moving the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, seemed touched by the reception."I'm overwhelmed with the response here tonight," Modell said."If this is the enthusiasm for NFL football, what's going to happen when we win a few games?"

The Ed Block Courage Award Dinner tonight will be a coming-out party for Art Modell in his new home.Modell will be making his first major public appearance in Baltimore since Nov. 6, when he announced he was moving the Cleveland Browns here.It's not his first appearance at the dinner, though. He said he attended years ago and knew the late Ed Block, the Baltimore Colts trainer for whom the dinner is named."He was considered the dean of trainers," Modell said.Modell said he is looking forward to the event.

It's more than a collection of football players in front of a huge banquet audience. This is about children, the kind that can't help themselves and have been abused physically, sexually and emotionally. For them it's despair and dejection, and there is attendant pain for responsible citizens even remotely conversant with their plight.But once more the Ed Block Courage Awards has held another gathering, its 17th in a series of annual fund-raising dinners at Martin's West where the man who conceived of the idea, one Sam Lamantia, has a sincerity and quiet drive that allows him to inspire others to contribute to one of the most critical of humane causes.

Mark Schlereth made the shortest trip and took the longest road to tonight's 17th annual Ed Block Courage Award Dinner.Schlereth had a short drive from his home in Reston, Va., to the dinner that honors former Colts trainer Ed Block and provides funds to support abused children in Courage Houses around the country.Each team selects one player to be honored and his now-former Washington Redskins teammates picked Schlereth, a six-year veteran guard, to represent them this year.He's a symbol of the courage that the Block award is all about.

Heisman Trophy winners and Pro Football Hall of Famers Earl Campbell, Paul Hornung, O. J. Simpson, Roger Staubach and Doak Walker will be among the guests of honor at the 16th annual Ed Block Courage Awards on March 8 at 6 p.m. at Martin's West.The award honors one player from each of the 28 NFL teams. The award personifies courage through the eyes of teammates and reflects the Ed Block model of strength, leadership and the pursuit of excellence.Head trainer of the Baltimore Colts for 23 years, Ed Block served in the tank division of the U.S. Army and worked with children needing therapy at Kernan and Johns Hopkins hospitals.

Banquet organizers have good intentions, but the result can be painful. It happens when a long night of oratory succeeds only in abusing an audience that has bought tickets to be entertained but is annoyed by prolonged introductions, followed by dull speeches. This is the perfect formula for spreading physical and mental torment.So let's quickly turn attention to what happens tonight when the Ed Block Courage Awards are held for the 15th time at Martin's West. All 1,700 tickets have been sold.

It's almost as if Kevin Walker can't turn on the TV set these days without seeing the replay of Bo Jackson's last play as a football player.Jackson is trying to make a comeback as a baseball player with an artificial hip, so the injury he suffered in a 1990 playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals still makes all the highlight shows."

CHICAGO -- That mere grain of an idea that occurred to a friendly neighborhood barber in Baltimore, one Sam Lamantia, continues to nurture and to make an impact on the National Football League. It has nothing to do with punts, passes or pitchouts, but, instead, furthering a cause devoted to humanity.This is a charitable function that brings cheers and commendations from all sides. The compelling function? Abused children. The organization that is addressing the subject with the NFL is known as the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation.

All the components were there for a spectacular presentation. Memorable, too. Not just another boring sports banquet that polluted the air and succeeded in rocking to sleep a large segment of the audience. This was an evening that offered tradition, hope, laughs, elegance and enjoyment. And it was XTC pulled together with excellent timing and extraordinary taste.And how about the cause? Abused children. It was the 14th annual Ed Block Courage Awards gathering at Martin's West, which featured a gala collection of former Baltimore Colts, eight members of the Hall of Fame, a player from each of the present National Football League clubs and the chief executive officer of the Chicago Bears, one Edward McCaskey.